Chronology:
4 Mar 1968: Julian is born in Melbourne, Australia, at the Royal Women’s Hospital in Parkville. His mother is Pamela Anne Knight and his father Army Captain Ralph Knight is an education officer with the Royal Australian Army Educational Corps (RAAEC), a qualified teacher who teaches literacy and numeracy (and later Mandarin) to Army soldiers. Captain Knight is later promoted to the rank of Major.
25 Aug 68 to 20 Dec 69: Julian’s family relocate and live in Hong Kong, Malacca, Malaysia, his father being on RAAEC educational deployment
20 Dec 69 – Dec 70: Julian Knight’s family relocate and live in Singapore, on RAAEC educational deployment
Dec 70 – Jan 72: Julian Knight’s family relocate and live at Puckapunyal Army Base, Victoria, Australia
Feb 71 – Dec 71: Julian attends Puckapunyal kindergarten
Jan 72 – Aug 73: Julian Knight’s family relocate and live in North Laverton (in western Melbourne) to be accessible to Tullamarine Airport. (Ironically, this become the location nearby of Port Phillip Prison)
Feb 72 – Aug 73: Julian attends Point Cook RAAF Base kindergarten
3 Sep 73 – 28 Apr 75: Julian Knight’s family relocate and live in Hong Kong, on RAAEC educational deployment
[Julian is aged 5 years]
Sep 73 – Oct 73: Julian attends Gun Club Primary School, Victoria, Hong Kong by his father (Julian is aged just 5 years)
Oct 73 – Apr 75: Julian attends Fort Stanley Primary School at Fort Stanley Army Base, Hong Kong
Jul 74: The Knight family take a vacation in the Philippines
Apr 75 – May 75: The Knight family travels throughout Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, on RAAEC educational deployment
May 75 – Dec 82: The Knight family relocates and lives back in Laverton, Victoria
May 75 – Dec 78: Julian attends Epsom Street Primary School, Laverton (attends grades 1 to 5)
Jan 76 – Dec 78: Encouraged by his father, Julian (at aged 10) serves in 1st Point Cook Scout Troop (Cubs), and rises to the rank of “Sixer”
Nov 76 – Jan 77: Julian attends the Laverton branch of the Little Athletics Association
Jan 79 – Apr 79: Julian (aged 11) trains with the 1st Point Cook Scout Troop (Scouts), and rises to the rank of “Pack Leader”
[Julian is aged 11 years]
Feb 79 – Nov 82: Julian attends Westbourne Grammar School, Hoppers Crossing (just west of Laverton) (attends grades 6 – 9)
Feb 80: Julian commences secondary schooling (grade 7) at Westbourne Grammar School in Truganina, in south-west metropolitan Melbourne. [Ironically, this school is situated 6km from Port Phillip Prison where Mr Julian Knight is currently incarcerated.]
March 80: Julian’s parents sadly separate
[Julian is aged 12 years]
4 Mar 80: Julian receives a Daisy air rifle for his birthday from his father
May 80 – Nov 80: Julian earns pocket money as a paper boy part-time for the nearby Laverton Newsagency
Jan 81: Julian saves up and purchases a Chinese air rifle
1982: Julian’s mother divorces his father and she and her three children move well away from the western suburb of Hoppers Crossing to 37 km east to Melbourne’s inner northern suburb of Clifton Hill renting at 6 Ramsden Street.
[Julian is aged 16 years in March 1984]
Jun 82 – Apr 84: Julian trains with the Norwood High School (Army) Cadet Unit, Ringwood, in outer eastern Melbourne, and rises to the rank of Corporal
6-13 Aug 82: Julian attends his first Army Cadets Annual Camp in the Puckapunyal Military Area (north of Melbourne in Victoria), and fires M16 rifle for the first time (at aged just 14 years)
16 Nov 82: Julian is involved in schoolyard fight at Westbourne Grammar School. He is punished with the cane and suspended for the rest of the school year
Dec 82 – Aug 87: The Knight family relocate and reside in Clifton Hill, in Melbourne’s inner northern suburbs
Feb 83 – Mar 84: Julian attends Fitzroy High School, Melbourne (Years 10-11)
31 Mar 83: Julian appears at Werribee Children’s Court over charges resulting from the previous schoolyard fight on the 16 November 1982. All charges are dismissed [Case No: CC118/83].
13-18 May 83: Julian attends Army Cadets Junior NCO (Non-Commissioned Officer – Lance Corporal) course at Gooram, Victoria (about 50km east of Puckapunyal Army Base)
6-12 Aug 83: Julian attends his second Army Cadets Annual Camp in the Puckapunyal Military Area
20-26 Aug 83: Julian attends Army Cadets Adventure Training Award (survival) course at Puckpunyal
4-9 Dec 83: Julian attends Army Cadets Senior NCO course at Bambara, Victoria (he is promoted to the NCO rank of Corporal)
Jan 84: Julian purchases a Crosman high-powered air rifle
Apr 84 – Dec 85: Julian trains with the Melbourne High School (Army) Cadet Unit
4-10 Aug 84: Julian attends his third Army Cadets Annual Camp at Puckapunyal Army Base. The rewarding experience led Julian two months later to apply to join up with the Australian Army Reserve on 1st October 1985 at age 17. He was still at school. Julian subsequently enlisted as an Army Private on 26 November 1985 and commenced Army basic training.
May 84 – Mar 85: Julian works part at McDonald’s restaurant in Swanston Street, Melbourne
Mar 84 – Dec 85: Julian completes final two years of secondary schooling (Years 11 & 12) at Melbourne High School, and attains his Higher School Certificate.
Julian is aged 17 in 1985. He turns 18 on 4th March 1986, becoming a legal adult in Australia.
SOURCES:
http://julianknight-hoddlestreet.ca/ [2013-2017], since defunct.
[The Author: “The website (the domain http://julianknight-hoddlestreet.ca/ registered in Canada, was created by myself and my husband as a ‘teaser’ for a book I am writing. The purpose of the current content on this site is to be a ‘filler’. As the project progresses, the site will evolve to contain chapter summaries, a public forum and research materials relating to the crime of mass murder in general and to the Hoddle Street massacre specifically.
This is a project that I have invested many years in. It was born as a result of being denied by the Victorian Office of the Correctional Services Commissioner the ability to conduct research on this case as part of a Masters program I was enrolled in during 1999-2002 in Melbourne].
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/insight-editor-keith-moor-reconstructs-the-terrible-events-of-the-hoddle-st-massacre/news-story/0b7cbcb712cfed995f6e2a0be9e73b8e
In Julian’s own recollection of his childhood, relevant to his Personal Account to DART in 2013:
Introduction
“I was born on 4 March 1968 in Melbourne, Australia.
My father was an officer in the Royal Australian Army Education Corps (RAAEC) during 1968-1988. My earliest memories are of my father in uniform and the Centurion tanks at Puckapunyal, where we lived during 1970-1972. I attended kindergarten at Puckapunyal and later at RAAF Point Cook. I then attended primary school at Stanley Fort, Hong Kong, during 1973-1975.
I had wanted to enlist the Army for as long as I can remember. From around the age of 12 my ambition was to emulate my father and become an officer in the Australian Army. During my school years my goal was to attend the Officer Cadet School (OCS), at Portsea. [Army Officer Cadet School was shut down in 1985, leaving only RMC Duntroon as Australia’s Army sole officer training military college thereafter].
As a precursor to military service I was a Boy Scout in the 1st Point Cook Scout Troop at RAAF Point Cook during 1976-1979 (during the ages 8-11). I rose to be a “Sixer” in the Cubs and a “Pack Leader” in the Scouts. In my last year as a Cub, I was awarded the prize for the most badge work completed, but I was also demoted from “Sixer” to “Seconder” after pushing over another Cub.
School Army Cadet Service
During 1982-84 (ages 14-16), I trained as a cadet in the Norwood High School Cadet Unit (NHSCU), although I was a student at Fitzroy High School during this time. Whilst a cadet in the NHSCU, I attended two annual camps and two training weekends. I also completed junior NCO and senior NCO courses in 1983, and I rose to the rank of corporal. I also obtained the Adventure Training Award (ATA) in 1983.
The Cadet Under Officer (CUO) of the NHSCU Senior Platoon in 1983 was CUO Jason THOMAS (CSC No 4758), who attended RMC/ADFA during 1984-86 and who was a 2nd Class cadet at Duntroon in January 1987.
During 1984-85 (ages 16-17), I served as a cadet in the Melbourne High School Cadet Unit (MHSCU) after transferring from the NHSCU. I kept the rank of corporal when I transferred from the NHSCU. In mid-1984, I was discharged from the MHSCU after failing to attend a training weekend. I was later allowed to re-join the MHSCU but I was forced to forego my rank.
I served as a cadet for the remainder of my time with the MHSCU. I served in the unit’s 5 Platoon, the “adventure training” platoon (and also the platoon for demoted cadets or those cadets expelled from other platoons). The platoon leader and platoon sergeant of 5 Platoon in 1983 were CVO Dechlan ELLIS (CSC No 5693) and Patrick “Pat” BELL (CSC No 5678), both of whom (along with three other Melbourne High School cadets) attended the Australian Defence Force Academy in 1986. Whilst a cadet in the MHSCV, I attended two annual camps and two training weekends, and three training weekends with the 4th / 19th Prince of Wales’s Light Horse Regiment.
During my service as a cadet, I marched as a guidon bearer in the ANZAC Day parades in Melbourne in 1983, 1984 and 1985.
On 28 July 1985 (at age i 7), I applied for entry into the January 1986 intake of the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA). At the examination day on 13 August 1985, I was deemed to be not academically strong enough for ADFA, and I was told to re-apply for entry into the Royal Military College, Duntroon, (RMC Duntroon) as soon as I was old enough (* Duntroon candidates had to be at least 18 years old upon entry to the college).
The final recommendation of the army psychologist, Captain J.R. WARN, was recorded as being that I needed:
“..more development. e.g. work for a year after HSC, Army Reserve, and he could be a good prospect for RMC. Too weak academically for ADFA.”
In November 1985, I completed my Higher School Certificate (HSC) at Melbourne High School. I was subsequently awarded my HSC in January 1986, with C-grade passes in five subjects:
- English
- Australian History
- 18th Century History
- Geography
- Politics
I achieved an HSC Anderson Score of 271/410.1
[1. Editor’s Note: The Anderson Score was an Higher School Certificate (HSC) ranking system applied by the Victoria Government and used up until 1992. It was based upon a possible total score of 410 for five subjects – being a score out of 100 for compulsory English and then a score out of 100 for each of the next three highest subject results achieved, and then the fifth subject result was converted to being out of just 10. So, the total calculated by 100+ 300 + 10 = 410. Students only had to sit five subjects in the HSC. Any additional subjects taken with lower results would each be assessed out of a total of just 10 each.]
Army Reserve Service
On 1 October 1985 (at age 17), I applied for enlistment into the Australian Army Active Reserve whilst still at school. I was subsequently enlisted as a private on 26 November 1985.”
[SOURCE: Julian Knight’s Personal Account to the Australian Parliament’s Defence Abuse Response Taskforce, 2013, pp. 1-3].